PLX Academy · News · 18 May 2022
Digital platforms: Lead to improved healthcare communication.
The spending on digital healthcare solutions is estimated to reach EUR 232 billion by 2025. Digital healthcare platforms are making transformative changes and continuously boost efficiency while improving patient outcomes and patient experiences. The benefits are obvious, especially during a pandemic when most healthcare services are offered through digital means.
Virtual healthcare comprises technologies for remote patient communication, education, diagnosis and monitoring, and also includes digital technologies for clinical information exchange and administrative /operational functions. For instance, video calling and audio and instant messaging services are not only more frequent in our everyday lives, they have also been adopted throughout healthcare.
These technologies enable faster, easier and more frequent communication between patients and clinicians – reducing the need to travel to appointments. With many of these services available 24/7 and offering very short wait times, this option can be incredibly appealing for patients.
As virtual healthcare increases, so does the demand for patients to feel more informed. For this reason, the number of new digital solutions for communicating with patients is growing. An automated online communication platform to answer patient questions about procedures in real-time, has recently been developed by the Olympus team, in partnership with a pilot customer in Italy. Powered by AI (artificial intelligence), the platform uses NLP (natural language processing) and machine learning to provide a human-like conversational experience.
This virtual assistant presents up-to-date information in a visually appealing and well-communicated format to enable patients to be better prepared for their visit and help decrease the number of rescheduled appointments. The hope is that digital communication tools such as this can educate and inform in a cost-efficient manner to free up medical staff and reduce their exhaustion and burnout.